Chen Qing's life experience is very legendary, and he has also experienced a repeated process of being mythologized and refuted on the Internet. However, no matter how excessive and exaggerated the records in the history books of the Southern Dynasty are, they cannot erase the fact that Chen Qingzhi has fought for thousands of years, spanned thousands of miles, is invincible, and threatens the Central Plains.
Chen Qingzhi was a famous general who impressed the great military figure Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao loved to read history books and was well known to everyone. In many history books, Chen Qingzhi's biography chairman Mao has been studied repeatedly, so that "the blood boiled and the book was thrown up." On one occasion, Chairman Mao even commented: "I am fascinated by this biography when I read it again." June 3, 1969. ”
This article will talk about the secret of Chen Qingzhi's invincibility.
(Mei Changsu's prototype is Chen Qingzhi)
Chen Qingzhi's personal ability was indeed strong enough, and at that time there was even a nursery rhyme that "the famous army general Mo Zi was imprisoned, and thousands of troops and horses avoided white robes". But it should be noted that behind the myth of Chen Qingzhi is the powerful infantry of the Han Chinese, which has been ignored for thousands of years.
The two Jin dynasties, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, because of the bullying of the Hu people, their military achievements were tragically ignored. In fact, it was in this era that the Han infantry gradually reached the peak until the Tang Dynasty completed this process.
<h1>First, Chen Qingzhi's main opponent is the armor riding gear</h1>
As in thousands of years, the Han infantry of the two Jin dynasties and the northern and southern dynasties faced the powerful cavalry force of the Hu people in the north. And it was the peak period of heavy cavalry in Chinese history, in addition to the Jurchen cavalry. However, in the duel with the heavy cavalry, the Han infantry did not fall behind, on the contrary, they also found many ways to teach the heavy cavalry to be human.
The origin of the heavy cavalry of the Northern Dynasty still began at the end of the Han Dynasty, which is closely related to the level of science and technology. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the hundred steelmaking technology had been applied on a large scale, which greatly improved the sophistication of weapons and equipment, and the cost was greatly reduced. Therefore, at that time, even a small country could easily equip tens of thousands of heavily armored cavalry, such as the Southern Yan derived from the Former Yan, which had 53,000 ironclad cavalry. Some Chinese who worship the West always use the West as an example to illustrate that it is too expensive to equip a heavy cavalry, so it is difficult for heavy cavalry to be equipped in large quantities, and I can only say that the small countries of The Ferns cannot understand the economic strength of large countries.
In this case, the heavy cavalry, commonly known as the "armored mounted armor", came to the stage of history.
The Hu people did not attach importance to the heavily armored cavalry, because this was completely inconsistent with their concept of warfare. However, the Hu people in the "Wuhu Chaohua" era had long been deeply influenced by the Han, especially Cao Cao's tiger and leopard riding and the Western Jin Dynasty's armor and armor allowed them to see the power of heavy cavalry.
Therefore, the regime of the Sixteen Kingdoms in the North attached great importance to the heavy cavalry troops, and even some small regimes could easily come up with tens of thousands of heavy cavalry troops. This is because the hu people's original light cavalry in the confrontation with the heavy cavalry, riding the bow is not powerful enough, it is difficult to resist the impact of the heavy cavalry, and a kind of psychology.
The development of heavy cavalry in the Hu regime is now difficult to verify, but only from the perspective of the Northern Wei regime, this nation that originally paid attention to riding and shooting was still not exempt from the customs, and the heavy cavalry suppressed the light cavalry to become the main force of the army.
<h1>Second, there was a serious tactical unity in the development of heavy cavalry</h1>
However, due to the lack of understanding of the military establishment system and coordinated operations, too much emphasis on heavy cavalry has become a weakness of the Hu cavalry.
Historically, the truly elite Han infantry has never been afraid of heavy armored cavalry. This is because the combat methods of heavy armored cavalry are too simple, only strong assault. In fact, the Han army also has heavy cavalry, but the Han people never regard heavy cavalry as the primary means of first climbing the front, but use it as the main assault force to change the situation on the battlefield when the war situation may produce subtle changes. This is very obvious from Cao Cao's use of troops. The Battle of Tongguan between Cao Cao and the Western Liang Coalition Army was the most typical battle in which he used heavy cavalry, and in the final decisive battle, Cao Cao did not use his tiger and leopard horse (heavy cavalry unit) to launch a strong assault at the beginning, but first challenged with light troops, and after a long time, when the first echelon of the Western Liang coalition army was tired, he suddenly used the tiger and leopard horse to launch a surprise attack.
But the Hu people at that time, except for a very small number of geniuses, basically did not realize this. The heavy cavalry charge was also their main means of defeating the enemy. In the past, although Ran Min stood on his own, he was actually deeply influenced by the Hu people's use of troops. We can see that Ran Min fought with Shi And Murong, and both sides were attacked by iron horses and clashed back and forth, relying entirely on the strong impact of heavy cavalry to fight. The large number of infantry in Ran Min's troops played a very small role. Murong Ke's final defeat of Ran Min also relied on a series of horses composed of heavily armored cavalry to win. It is worth noting that Ran Min, who was self-possessed and courageous, actually led his heavy cavalry to directly attack Murong Ke's continuous horse phalanx, resulting in defeat.
This habit of the Hu people in using soldiers has not changed until nearly a hundred years later. Liu Yu northernly attacked Southern Yan, and the Southern Yan chancellor Gongsun Fifth Floor suggested that he defend Da Da Shan and attack Liu Yu's grain road with a fine horse. Murong Chao, the lord of the Southern Yan state, actually believed that he had "ten thousand groups of iron horses", so he let the Jin army cross the Da Da Shan Mountain, and then with "fine riding and practicing", he could win. Unexpectedly, Liu Yu took 4,000 chariots as the two wings and fought while walking, and the heavy cavalry troops of Southern Yan did not have any temper with Liu Yu, and the tactics of the iron horse charging were completely curbed. Liu Yu easily destroyed Nan Yan.
More than 10 years later, Liu Yu again attacked Later Qin in the Northern Expedition, and encountered the Northern Wei heavy cavalry on the way. The Northern Wei general Sun Song attacked Liu Yu's Yueyue Array with 30,000 iron horses, but in the face of less than 3,000 infantry, the Northern Wei heavy cavalry repeatedly charged and suffered heavy casualties, but still could not win, but was counterattacked by the Jin army and was defeated.
The fundamental reason for these failures is that the Hu people are simple-minded and only use heavy cavalry to charge a tactical battle, which is the most fatal weakness of the Hu heavy cavalry during the two Jin And Northern Dynasties.
But in front of the elite infantry, this is really useless.
<h1>Third, it is a misconception that the infantry phalanx can defend against the onslaught of heavy cavalry</h1>
It is often seen that people on the Internet say that horses are naturally afraid of sharp things, so cavalry cannot attack the infantry spear phalanx. This claim has no basis and is taken for granted. Horses do dodge sharp objects, but when the heavy cavalry begins to assault, they will pull down the horse's blindfold.
The weight of the man, the horse, and the iron armor they were carrying was already very large, plus the speed of the cavalry when it attacked. This is the physics knowledge that has been taught in junior high school, and the impact is so great that it can be resisted by infantrymen with spears?
In fact, the infantry phalanx resisted the cavalry attack, and the infantry spear array was the last line of defense. Ditches, antlers, and horses are the main forces resisting the onslaught of cavalry.
And in order to defend against the impact of heavy cavalry, the equipment of the car once again prevailed among the Han infantry. The most typical example is the two examples we just gave liu yu attacking Nanyan and the Yueyue Array.
Using vehicle formations to resist cavalry has a long history, Wei Qing fought against the Xiongnu shan in northern Mobei, and the first thing he used was the Wugang car. After surrounding himself in an invincible position, he used cavalry to engage the Hun cavalry.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, the Bald Tree function of the Xianbei people in Hexi led the crowd to oppose the Jin, and Ma Long led 3500 people to enter the discussion. In the face of tens of thousands of rebels, Malone took the side van as a front, and fought and advanced, just like Chen Qingzhi, he was invincible.
In fact, long before Wei Qing, the car array has been widely used. Li Mu fought against the Xiongnu with a selection of 1,300 chariots, 13,000 selected horses, 50,000 warriors who dared to charge into battle, and 100,000 soldiers who were good at shooting. The chariots in it will certainly not be the kind of chariots for "nobles to play archery games" in the Spring and Autumn Period, but chariots that serve as defensive fortifications like Wei Qing and Ma Long.
Not only in ancient China, but also in the West, this kind of vehicle array was also widely used, the most famous of which was the Hussite chariot. With this chariot defensive tactic, the Hussites repeatedly defeated the heavy cavalry of the Holy Roman Empire.
So is it possible for infantry to defeat the Hu cavalry just by relying on the formation of vehicles? Or, to be precise, is it possible to defeat the Hu cavalry just by relying on the coordination of multiple arms? Not quite.
<h1>Fourth, the improvement of equipment level</h1>
In Chinese history, the Hu cavalry has always been known for riding and shooting. Therefore, the chinese heavy cavalry is not the same as the Western heavy cavalry. In addition to powerful assaults, mounted archery is also a means of combat. Their standing weapons include horses, knives, and bows. In other words, the attack method is to spike, slash and shoot from a distance.
Although the vehicle array can effectively resist the spurs and partially resist the long-range fire, the shooting of the bow and arrow is an arc, and the car array is not enough to completely resist the burst of the arrows. So the equipment used by the infantry is another key.
The armor used by infantry during the Two Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties was called barrel sleeve armor. The defensive ability of this armor has reached a considerable level. For example, the set of Zhuge Liang sleeve armor that Liu Yu once gave to Yin Xiaozu, "Twenty-five stone crossbows cannot enter." Of course, this set of sleeve armor is definitely top-notch, but it also reflects the defensive strength of the sleeve armor from the side.
The bow used by the cavalry is not as powerful as the infantry bow, and the heavy cavalry is far less powerful than the infantry bow because of its heavy load. The infantry armor of the two Jin and Northern Dynasties could not even shoot through crossbow arrows, let alone bows and arrows.
And not to mention penetration, even the accuracy is greatly affected. During The Northern Expedition of Emperor Wen of Song, all the armies were jealous when they saw the Heavy Cavalry of Northern Wei. Song sent Xue Andu to remove his armor and horses, and rushed into the enemy position, "when he is the front, he should not fall down with a blade." Later, the Northern Wei army was really angry, but "the pinch shot could not be hit", which was the impact of heavy equipment on accuracy.
Most of the armor used by heavy cavalry is two-piece armor, because it is necessary to consider the reasons for galloping battles, this armor is lighter than the sleeve armor, and the protection ability is a little weaker. Therefore, under the impact of Xue Andu, "when it is the sharp edge, no one should fall down with a blade."
The proportion of crossbows used by the more dominant Han infantry is a higher proportion of long-range weapons. The crossbow was fully developed and matured in the Han Dynasty. During the Two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, in addition to further strengthening the single crossbow, large crossbows became popular again, the reason was to deal with the heavy cavalry in the north. The Han infantry's Crossbow was a weapon of mass destruction for heavy cavalry.
It is precisely because of the lack of power of long-range weapons that heavy cavalry attaches more importance to the ability to attack and charge. This can be seen from the most important combat weapon equipped by the heavy cavalry, and the horse is the most important equipment of the heavy cavalry. Why? In the face of the infantry's powerful armor, the chopping weapons and long-range weapons are difficult to pose a threat, and only The horse can break through the armor's defenses to form a penetration. In this case, the Hu people were forced to use heavy cavalry to carry out a cyclical assault, trying to kill the gap from the joint of the vehicle formation, and then directly attack the infantry phalanx. This is actually one of the reasons why the Hu heavy cavalry uses more assault tactics.
But due to the weight, the heavy cavalry lost the consistent advantage of cavalry over infantry, that is, flexible mobility. Light cavalry against infantry formations can gallop back and forth, looking for opportunities, or rushing or stopping or roundabout enveloping, looping and exhausting opponents.
The infantry could only set up a tight defensive position for this tactic, and the fundamental reason was that the light cavalry had the ability of the infantry to launch a blow from the march.
However, in the face of heavy cavalry, the pressure of the infantry army suddenly became smaller, and the responsibility of tens of kilograms made it difficult for the heavy cavalry itself to last. In a word, the infantry phalanx will be consumed with you, to see who can't consume physical energy first. Moreover, the Southern Dynasty Han people were not without cavalry, but the quantity and quality were slightly inferior, but when the heavy cavalry of the Hu people was seriously depleted by the infantry phalanx, this was the time when the Southern Dynasty cavalry attacked.
In the case of insufficient long-range power; the defensive ability of the Han infantry was strengthened, the loss of forced impact was too large; and the loss of mobility caused by their own weight. The power of heavy cavalry against Han infantry was naturally greatly reduced.
The Hu cavalry also found this problem, so from the middle period onwards, the proportion of light cavalry and infantry gradually increased. However, due to inertial thinking, heavy cavalry was still dominant. This led to a low level of training for infantry, making it difficult to compete with the elite Han infantry.
<h1>5. Synthetic armies</h1>
Although the number of troops during Chen Qingzhi's Northern Expedition was small, only 7,000 people, it was a typical composite army. And it is worth noting that Chen Qingzhi's army is not only good at defensive operations, they have extremely strong offensive capabilities.
Chen Qingzhi had pacified a total of 32 cities in half a year. Attacking the Wei general Qiu Daqian at Suiyang, Chen Qingzhi captured the three cities within a day, forcing Qiu Daqian to surrender.
Chen Qingzhi then attacked Yuan Huiye, the King of Northern Wei Jiyin at Kaocheng, which was surrounded by water on all sides and was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Chen Qingzhi ordered his men to build a fortress with floating water, and in one fell swoop, they broke through the outer barrier of Kaocheng and captured his city.
At Xingyang, Chen Qingzhi encountered the largest resistance of the Northern Wei, and as a result, Chen Qingzhi personally beat the drum to attack the city, and with only one drumming, the Liang army all climbed the city wall and conquered Xingyang.
What does this mean? It shows that Chen Qingzhi's army has a large number of skilled soldiers of the artisan class. Did the siege rely on soldiers to climb the ladder and attach it to the ants? Isn't that a joke?
Sieges rely on a large number of siege equipment. In particular, in the battle to conquer Kaocheng, the Liang army floated water and built a fortress, showing a strong technical level.
Vehicle, infantry, and cavalry work together, coupled with powerful technical classes, this is a very typical synthetic army.
The design of this synthetic army is mainly aimed at the combat characteristics of the Hu people's heavy cavalry, the Hu people are brave, and use the assault tactics with the strong impact of their heavy cavalry, in the face of this brave and unscrupulous army, defensive counterattack is naturally the best tactical choice.
So for this kind of synthetic army, is there a disadvantage in itself? Of course, and it is very obvious, that is, the mobility is seriously insufficient, the terrain requirements are extremely high, the deployment time is too long, and the training level of the army is extremely high.
It is often said that the peak period of heavy cavalry in ancient China was very short. It was precisely because the heavy cavalry was restrained by the powerful infantry phalanx and did not meet the requirements of war, naturally it was soon replaced by a more flexible and mobile light cavalry, and the most critical mobility of the cavalry unit was restored and the ability to attack on the march was restored.
The restoration of the tradition of light cavalry will also force a corresponding change in infantry tactics. This is the fundamental reason why in the Tang Dynasty, heavy cavalry became rare, and the number of chariots in infantry was greatly reduced.
The most crucial point of the synthetic army, powerful infantry, multi-service coordinated operations, sophisticated equipment, and the single tactical means of the Hu people's heavy cavalry is the secret of Chen Qingzhi's invincibility.
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About the author: Wang Zhengxing, a special military observer of the Xinhua News Agency Lookout Think Tank, and a former officer of a field unit of the People's Liberation Army, has served in infantry detachments, headquarters, logistics departments and other units, devoted himself to the study of war history and tactics, and has a unique understanding of military tactics and non-war operations. His book "This is War" was recommended in two issues in May and June 2014 by Phoenix TV's "Eight Minutes of Open Volume" column. His public account name is also "This is war", welcome to pay attention